Typical officer monitoring systems employ one of many media types, such as barcodes, magnetic strips, RFID tags, and the like, to hold unique identifiers that are associated with the officers, the observations of the officers during a guard tour, and the locations that the officers visit during a guard tour. Officers carry a portable data collection device that they use to read the various identifiers from the media. An officer begins a guard tour by reading his or her identification with the portable data collection device, which stores the unique identifier associated with the officer along with a time stamp in memory. While on guard tour the officer uses the portable data collection device to timestamp and read data from media that are permanently mounted at predetermined locations that the officer is required to visit. The location identifier and associated timestamp are stored in the memory of the portable data collection device. If the officer makes a particular observation during the guard tour, the portable data collection device is used to timestamp and read media holding a unique identifier associated with each observation, or the observation is input into the portable data collection device via a keypad or touchscreen, depending on the particular system and data collection device being used. These observations relate to the security status of the site where the guard tour takes place, such as the status of a door lock, a broken window, and the like. The observations are typically associated with location the officer must visit while performing a guard tour. The unique observation identifier, or the input observation, and its timestamp are stored in the memory of the portable data collection device. The result is a set of data and timestamp pairs that define the officer's activity during a guard tour. The collected data is transferred to a computer as the data are collected, or at the end of the officer's shift, or at other times. Officer monitoring software executing on the computer performs analysis and reporting functions on the data.
The media that hold the unique identifiers associated with locations can be problematic when the media are mounted in areas that are subject to harsh conditions. For example, the fact that most media are visible and mounted on a wall may make them targets for vandalism, and media like barcodes and magnetic stripes are easily rendered inoperable. In addition, media such as barcodes are easily copied. RFID tags are more durable but more expensive, and can be pried from their mount or otherwise destroyed. To deal with these problems some officer monitoring systems use ruggedized media while some use a positioning system like GPS to verify that an officer has visited the required locations without the use of permanently mounted media. Each approach has inherent disadvantages. For instance, ruggedized media can be expensive and GPS does not work inside most structures.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages associated with present officer monitoring systems using the aforementioned methods, it has become desirable to develop an officer monitoring system that does not utilize such mounted media at the locations visited by an officer while on a guard tour.